Quick Response

Quick response minimizes fire By ANDREA BROWN-HURLEY andreabh@herald-mail.com BOONSBORO - A Boonsboro fire that took two minutes to extinguish kept a restaurant closed for more than four hours Saturday as firefighters waited for a fire marshal to arrive. Fire broke out in an office above Heather B's Pub at 1 N. Main Street just before noon, said Troy Lloyd, deputy chief of the First Hose Co. of Boonsboro. Boonsboro firefighter Richard Brown used 200 gallons of water to put the fire out within two minutes, preventing the small blaze from spreading to the apartments in the rear of the building, Lloyd said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Berkeley County residents can save taxpayer dollars by responding quickly to Census 2000 surveys next year, said Katherine H. Shiflet of the U.S. Census Bureau. Starting the second week of March, census surveys will be mailed to city residents and Census Bureau employees will go door-to-door in rural areas, said Shiflet, who addressed both the Berkeley County Commission and Martinsburg City Council Thursday. Residents are asked to fill in and mail the surveys as soon as possible, she said.

RANSON, W.Va. - Fire officials were thankful that the situation was not worse after fire broke out in a supply room at Jefferson Memorial Hospital Sunday morning. The 8:33 a.m. fire - attributed to a fluorescent light - was quickly contained by a sprinkler system. Firefighters were praised for their six-minute response to the hospital at 300 S. Preston St. The fire started in a transformer in the fluorescent light, which was in a supply room for the operating room, said Roger Eitelman, president and chief executive officer of West Virginia University Hospitals - East, which operates the local hospital and City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va.

The Longmeadow Lions Club will not hold its regular meeting on April 24. The membership will be attending the Leader Dog Banquet at host West Hagerstown Lions Club on Tuesday, April 22, instead. The members thank all those who returned to the pancake breakfast on April 12 after a power outage caused a temporary shutdown during serving hours. The Lions Club apologizes for the loss of the presale ticketholders who were not able to have breakfast that morning, but the situation was out of the club's control.

charlestown@herald-mail.com RANSON, W.Va. - Police say $4,400 in cash was stolen from four state-regulated slot machines at Boss's restaurant when someone broke into the business early Tuesday. A burglar alarm sounded at the restaurant and bar at about 3:40 a.m., said Capt. Mickey Ballenger of the Ranson Police Department. By the time Officer Patrick North arrived at the restaurant at 200 N. Mildred St., the machines had been broken into and the money taken, Ballenger said.

SMITHSBURG - During Smithsburg's trick-or-treat night Oct. 30, Smithsburg Emergency Medical Services (SEMS) personnel were out in force to help ensure the safety of trick-or-treaters, according to Assistant Chief James Ulrich. While some company members handed out candy at the station or were on standby in Whispering Hills, other personnel staffed bicycles and chase vehicles around town. EMS bike team members maintained radio contact with their chief officers, who could be in contact with the Smithsburg Police Department if needed.

HANCOCK - A Hancock man has been charged with setting fire to his 20-foot travel trailer at the end of a "bad day," a deputy state fire marshal said Wednesday. Christopher J. McCarty, 59, of the 13800 block of Exline Road, was charged with arson in connection with the early Wednesday fire at his travel trailer, according to a release from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office. Fire marshals said investigators believe an ignitable liquid was poured onto the floor of the trailer and lighted just after midnight Wednesday.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com A valve in a computer system cooling unit burst late Tuesday morning, spewing water-borne potassium hydroxide over a classroom full of about 100 adults in an instructional building at the National Conservation Training Center. The building was evacuated immediately and there were no serious injuries, said Steve Chase, the chief of facility, operations and administration at the sprawling government training center north of Shepherdstown. Potassium hydroxide is extremely toxic in its pure state but it was highly diluted in the cooling system, Chase said.

Hagerstown Mayor Robert E. Bruchey II apologized Tuesday night for remarks critical of State Sen. Don Munson. "I offer my apologies to those citizens who felt that my comments were disrespectful to Sen. Munson. Again, that was never my intention," said Bruchey, reading from a written statement at the end of the Mayor and City Council's Tuesday work session. During his State of the City address on March 14 Bruchey said Munson, R-Washington, had to change his attitude about locating a University System of Maryland education center in downtown Hagerstown in order for the project to succeed.

Stolen property recovered near Smithsburg The Washington County Sheriff's Department is looking for the owner of stolen property that was recovered in the Smithsburg area, Investigator Greg Alton said Friday. Deputies found a small, red leather jewelry box containing, among other items, a 1976 Waynesboro Area Senior High School class ring, he said. Anyone with information can call investigators at 240-313-2185. Overturned rig blocks Interstate 81 ramp WILLIAMSPORT - An overturned tractor-trailer blocked an exit ramp from northbound U.S. 11 onto Interstate 81 for more than two hours Thursday evening, a Washington County Emergency Services dispatcher said.

In Franklin County, fewer than 1 percent of patients who suffer cardiac arrest outside of a hospital will survive the attack. Dave Donohue, director of the Franklin County Department of Emergency Services, wants to turn those odds around. He came up with the idea for the first countywide CPR training class in the spring, took it to the EMS chiefs and held classes on Saturday. “CPR is the single most important link in the chain of survival,” Donohue said. “The reality is if someone has a heart attack, it takes at least eight or nine minutes for advanced care to arrive.

Former Fairplay volunteer firefighter Mark Kopp said Wednesday that the indefinite suspension of Fairplay Volunteer Fire Co. operations because of its trouble responding to calls was overdue, while others praised the work the company was doing. “It's a long time coming,” Kopp said. “If Fairplay was called, services from Sharpsburg or Funkstown were going to come anyway.” Richard Forcino, however, said the fire company always answered his calls in a timely manner. “Every time I've needed the fire company, they've been right here,” he said.

SMITHSBURG - During Smithsburg's trick-or-treat night Oct. 30, Smithsburg Emergency Medical Services (SEMS) personnel were out in force to help ensure the safety of trick-or-treaters, according to Assistant Chief James Ulrich. While some company members handed out candy at the station or were on standby in Whispering Hills, other personnel staffed bicycles and chase vehicles around town. EMS bike team members maintained radio contact with their chief officers, who could be in contact with the Smithsburg Police Department if needed.

The Smithsburg golf team has been looking for total balance in its lineup and, on Tuesday, it all came together in the Maryland 2A/1A District 1 tournament at Black Rock Golf Course. Smithsburg, which won the state title in 2005, ran away with the district title, posting 317 strokes, far ahead of second place Middletown (334). This will mark Smithsburg's fourth state appearance as a team. "All along, I said a key for us would be our third and fourth players," said Smithsburg coach Dan Neff.

BRISTOL, Conn. - Over the first two games of its stay at the Mid-Atlantic Regional, there appears to be no slowing down Hagerstown Federal's offensive attack. With Sunday's 11-4 win over Capital City Little League out of the District of Columbia, the Maryland state champions have now outscored their opponents 23-4 on their way to an impressive 2-0 start to the tournament. "These boys are all studs," said coach Bill Abeles Jr. of his offense, which has crossed the plate a total of 124 times during its impressive run through district, state and now regional play.

Why I'm running for Boonsboro Council To the editor: ( Editor's note: Normally, The Herald-Mail would not publish a letter from a candidate on election day, but this one is, in part, a response to Tim Rowland's Sunday, May 11 column on the Boonsboro election. In addition, the letter-writer's opponent's letter also was printed on Sunday.) Dear Boonsboro Citizens: I am a candidate for town council out of a very sincere desire to become even more involved than I have been over the last 30 years as a native citizen of Boonsboro.

The Longmeadow Lions Club will not hold its regular meeting on April 24. The membership will be attending the Leader Dog Banquet at host West Hagerstown Lions Club on Tuesday, April 22, instead. The members thank all those who returned to the pancake breakfast on April 12 after a power outage caused a temporary shutdown during serving hours. The Lions Club apologizes for the loss of the presale ticketholders who were not able to have breakfast that morning, but the situation was out of the club's control.

RANSON, W.Va. - Fire officials were thankful that the situation was not worse after fire broke out in a supply room at Jefferson Memorial Hospital Sunday morning. The 8:33 a.m. fire - attributed to a fluorescent light - was quickly contained by a sprinkler system. Firefighters were praised for their six-minute response to the hospital at 300 S. Preston St. The fire started in a transformer in the fluorescent light, which was in a supply room for the operating room, said Roger Eitelman, president and chief executive officer of West Virginia University Hospitals - East, which operates the local hospital and City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va.

Stolen property recovered near Smithsburg The Washington County Sheriff's Department is looking for the owner of stolen property that was recovered in the Smithsburg area, Investigator Greg Alton said Friday. Deputies found a small, red leather jewelry box containing, among other items, a 1976 Waynesboro Area Senior High School class ring, he said. Anyone with information can call investigators at 240-313-2185. Overturned rig blocks Interstate 81 ramp WILLIAMSPORT - An overturned tractor-trailer blocked an exit ramp from northbound U.S. 11 onto Interstate 81 for more than two hours Thursday evening, a Washington County Emergency Services dispatcher said.

"This is in response to the item about illegal parking in fire zones. Good luck getting anybody to respond. I have contacted the Hagerstown City Police, Washington County Sheriff's Department and the Maryland State Police, but nothing ever gets corrected. Sure hope somebody does something before someone gets killed. " - Hagerstown "Bush may not be the best president or the worst, but at least he is standing up to terrorists. Had Clinton taken care of Osama when he had more than one chance to, 9/11 would have not have happened.